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Wednesday, 15 April 2015

DECONSTRUCTING A BANKRUPT NATION: GREECE

TRAITS OF COUNTRIES

In Persian Letters, French Enlightenment thinker Montesquieu
makes a case for cultural relativism rooted in a value system and traditions
that become the norm as part of a societal construct, thus 'good' for society.
In Persian Letters and The Spirit of the Laws, the French
philosopher makes a case for writers (intelligentsia) of a society that
manufactures a reality based on fragments of societal myths and empirical
conditions. This manufactured reality reflects society as much as it shapes it
and among the influences are everything from geography and climate to religion
and music.

Given the interplay in society between religion and political regime, an
ideology develops that accounts for most people in a given society accepting
societal institutions as 'natural', products of the laws of nature and not
human constructs. From ancient times to the era of the trans-Atlantic slave
trade the master-slave relationship was regarded as 'natural', even by great
philosophers and clergy, and not just slave owners. Besides political expediency,
moral imperatives are attached to institutions that help shape the human mind
in society that strives to distinguish itself from others.

Throughout history, some countries have become notorious for their 'Leviathan'
regimes, invariably ruled under personality cult - monarchs, or dictators
of the extreme right or the left. Russia under the Peter the Great as well as
Russia and Stalin fits the mold of the above description. Institutionally and
culturally, such societies always carry remnants of the Leviathan regime, no
matter how far they may attempt to remove themselves, as we can see in Russia
under Putin's nationalist (quasi-statist) rule.

Some countries have become notorious for their obsession with warfare and
aggressive foreign policies intended to help them reach great strength. Still
others, most notably the Scandinavian countries in the second half of the 20th
century, stood apart for their quest toward social justice despite the global
tide in political economy that runs counter toward such trends.

In a world dominated by the Great Powers, it is difficult for a small country
to catch global attention, unless something very serious is taking place,
something like the case of Cuba that has defied the US for decades, or North
Korea that opted for relative isolation with China as its major patron state.
From 2010 until the present Greece became infamous for its sovereign debt
crisis, which had the potential of severe international consequences because
the country is a eurozone member. That nations great and small feared emulating
the 'Greek disaster' is indicative of the stigmatizing role Greece has had
internationally.

It is simply irrational, at least it should be, that a country as tiny as
Greece in terms of geographical size, population and GDP that is one-third the
market cap of Apple Computers, has the ability to trigger EU monetary
instability, global market shocks and a double-dip recession. Yet, the symbolic
significance of Greece and what its sovereign debt problems mean for the
capitalist system under the neoliberal model is significant.

Keeping in mind that human nature is the same, it is environment and within
that cultural influences that play a catalytic role in differences between
societies and communities, whether under the nation-state structure or under
any other as have existed in the past. Modern open (pluralistic) societies
under the same political economy of capitalism share similar structural traits
from a hierarchical social structure to a multi-party system and basic freedoms
of the individual as well as basic human rights.

Cultural heritage of a society steeped in 'traditionalism' (societal value
system rooted in secular but especially religious traditions) differs from one
that has undergone modernization through a political, cultural, technological
and/or industrial revolution. Thus an open society like modern Turkey is very
different from France, although both share in the same global economy that
influences their institutions. Similarly, an open society like Japan is very different
from Brazil. The degree to which Japan and to a large degree France look
forward toward the future is not the same as the cases of Turkey and Brazil,
both thriving economies, but immersed in the historical past. The nuances of
each society as well as the degree to which they respond to the process of
cultural diffusion and the degree to which they are prepared to subordinate the
past for the sake of a more promising future is what sets open societies apart
from each other.

SYNOPTIC HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE OF DEPENDENCY

With the help of Russia, France and England, Greece carried out a national
independence movement from the Ottoman Empire in the 1820s. The creation of
Greece as a nation-state owing to the efforts of the Great Powers entails
political, military and economic dependence on the Great Powers, and especially
industrialized England that would retain hegemonic role over Greece until the
Second World War. Unlike the French Revolution that was a grassroots uprising
intended to change the entire institutional structure, the Greek War of
Independence was a movement carried out primarily by large landowners and
merchants with the backing of the Orthodox Church.

To carry out the rebellion, rebels borrowed heavily throughout the 1820s from
the House of Rothschild and from London financiers who had every intention of
forcing their government into the conflict so they would not lose their money.
Anglo-French loans continue pouring in throughout the 19th century until the
country declared bankruptcy in 1893 when the deep recession swept across Europe
and US. Sustaining the government and economy through inordinate foreign
borrowing without using the resources to become more self-reliant was a
prescription for perpetuating economic and political dependence indefinitely.

From the War of Independence until the present, Greek politicians as well as
businesspeople looked West for political, economic and political integration. A
comprador (middlemen and externally dependent) political class has always
existed alongside the compador socioeconomic class whose fortunes rested with
northwest Europe. Given that the country rests between three continents, it has
always held geopolitical significance, something that became even more apparent
after WWII when the US and its Western partners resolved to secure the energy
sources of the Middle East. Whether in the early 19th century as a base of
British naval operations in the Eastern Mediterranean, or in 2012 as a
launching base for possible operations against any Middle Eastern country,
Greece has value owing to its location on the map.

Greek politics under an external dependency and internal clientist structure
has never been the process of a social contract that has as the ultimate goal
the advancement of society as a whole with all social groups benefiting, or at
least not creating extreme social polarization. Instead, politics was a matter
of catering to the foreign patron power (s) under a patron-client relationship.
Individual relationships based on private interests invariably against public
welfare is at the core of externally dependent and clientist politics. The
voter delivers the votes, and the politician delivers favors that range from
securing a job for the client, to making sure that the client's relative secures
priority in a hospital for a surgical procedure; a process that necessarily
entails the rejection of rationalizing institutions and rejecting
professionalism in bureaucracies of both the public and private sectors.

The patron-client system, which has existed in various forms since the Roman
era and characterizes the political process in many less developed nations
today, best served both the comprador bourgeoisie as well as the foreign
businesses that were able to buy influence. The same system served the 'patron'
country on which Greece was dependent, namely Great Britain from the mid-1830s
until the Truman Doctrine, the US from Truman to Clinton, and Germany in the
last fifteen years.The significant question is the degree to which it has
contributed to the bankrupt nation.

CULTURE and ETHNIC IDENTITY

Ethnic identity is an issue for Greeks, only in so far as they are in denial
about the true origins of the populations that lives in southeastern Europe and
speaks a language that is a variation of classical Greek. It is no secret that
people who live in Greece believe they are the direct descendants of classical
Greeks whose creative accomplishments are the rich legacy to the Western World.
That Greeks believe they are the 'other chosen people', namely, the gentiles
that 'civilized the world', entails their cultural assumptions are an
impediment to forward-looking thinking to progress. This mindset resting on the
laurels of ancestors is an obstacle to societal progress in so far as it
entails that the entire nation is immersed in myths and illusions of
grandeur of the distant past and fails to appreciate societal and individual
(personal) limitations set by the structural perimeters of external dependency
and clientist relations, to say nothing of the fact that when one swims in such
myths and illusions, then there is less effort to be productive, creative and
self-reliant.

After all, if I am carrying the legacy of classical Greece, why would I need
anything more to prove my inner self-worth, and why would not arrogance to an
extreme degree be my distinguishing trait that sets me apart from the
'Barbarian other' who is not carrying such a legacy as I do? This is to some
degree a tragic reality with the Greeks who remain convinced that they are
separate and distinct from the rest of (barbarian) humanity, an illusion that
permits them to be content with the archaic and decadent status quo, which is
itself rooted in Medieval Ottoman culture.

Added to the illusion of grandeur owing to the legacy of classical Greece,
there are the illusions that the Orthodox Church contributes. An institution
that has been intertwined with the political world from Independence to the
present, the church inculcates the illusion of separateness, uniqueness on top
of other-worldliness into the minds of the masses; myths that politicians use
and exploit to engender sociopolitical conformity. That the church has a major
role in the economy and society, is a reflection of adherence to
'traditionalism' and 'exceptionalism', both obstacles to assessing societal
conditions objectively without the injections of illusions regarding
uniqueness, other-worldliness and above all dogmatic thinking derived from
religion but applied in all endeavors. If the church were a socially
progressive and corrupt-free institution as some of the more radical Protestant
sects that could have been a positive influence on society, but it is a
Medieval institution perpetuating an archaic mindset on the broader masses of
society.

Needless to say, Greek politicians are a reflection of some of the most
decadent and archaic traits of a the culture of 'traditionalism' that is still
influenced by aspects of the legacy of the classical world, the Orthodox
Church, and the Ottoman Empire. At the surface level, society projects an image
of modernity simply because of prevailing consumerist Western values,
everything from dress mode, entertainment and lifestyle that are thin layers on
top of the underlying 'traditionalism' substructure of society. In short,
Greece is a society that never had a cultural/intellectual revolution
endeavoring to modernize by simply copying the consumerist and lifestyle habits
of the West.

POLITICAL ECONOMY

There are two parallel elites that exert power and influence in how society
operates. The first is the political class and the second the socioeconomic
class, both comprador - externally dependent - and both resting on the cultural
foundations of 'traditionalism'. Without going into detailed historical
analysis, suffice it to say that structurally those pyramids have been in place
for the duration of modern Greece and remain so to this day, both constituting
obstacles to socioeconomic progress rooted in social justice.

From the War of Independence to the present, there have always been a few thousand
families that have owned most of the assets in the country and this group
constitutes the dependent capitalist (comprador) class invariably linked to
foreign capital and exerting hegemonic influence in the political arena. How
does this class operate differently than the dominant sociopolitical class in a
modern Western society?
My theory is that 'Baksheesh capitalism, a system rooted in clientist
relationships between consumer and provider and a reward system to provider by
the consumer to demonstrate appreciation for products/services rendered, is at
the root of the political economy. There are endless examples of how the system
operates, but let us consider a few.

The medical devices and pharmaceutical provider to hospital offers payoffs to
various individuals starting with ministry of health officials all the way down
to the doctor who orders the specific product for the hospital and takes a
bribe. Similarly, defense contractors (Russian, US, French, German, etc.) offer
millions in bribes to everyone from the defense minister all the way down to
military officers and trade union officials whose shop will receive the product
for services. Similar bribery schemes are across every sector, some very
sophisticated involving offshore companies around the world that launder money
and involve every sector in the public and private domains as well as segments
of the Church/monasteries. This means that the cost of products/services is
much higher owing to layers of bribes, and that the product or service not
necessarily the best in the marketplace. The price for baksheesh capitalism is
perpetual backwardness for the entire society and blatant social injustice.

Is it difficult to track down the web of baksheesh capitalism and go to its
source if the entire society is immersed in it? The web begins with the
political class and socioeconomic hierarchy. For example, the energy is a
sector where the state loses billions of euros owing to black market operations
starts with the two large refineries owned by two multi-billionaire families.
The corruption scheme then filters down to distributors and truck drivers
delivering the product.

The black market energy racket could not take place in the absence of bribes to
everyone from top politicians, judges, police, customs officials, and a host of
others whose assistance is essential to sell the product illegally.The ultimate
goal of all parties in the web of baksheesh capitalism is to make as high a
profit as possible by avoiding tax payments, a situation that necessarily leads
the government to borrow heavily, and thus to higher debt that eventually must
be paid under bankrupt or semi-bankrupt conditions.

The paradox of baksheesh capitalism web is that everyone involved from the
gasoline station cheating with a computer chip inserted in the machine to
government ministers has the following reactions to endemic corruption that
contributes to perpetual external dependence and the current bankruptcy. First,
everyone takes and gives bribes and/or is somehow involved in a corrupt scheme.
Second, the 'other' is to blame because the 'other' offers or receives larger
bribes than I do. Third, the problem is not baksheesh capitalism but the
foreign enemy that offers bribes to domestic players (comprador bourgeoisie and
politicians) and foreign banks and governments that do not offer 'cheap and
endless credit'.

There is general agreement that the entire society is swimming in the system of
baksheesh capitalism, but there is no agreement on a) who/what is to
blame; b) how to fix the system without impacting the personal interests of the
few thousand families that own most of the wealth but evade paying fair share
of taxes; c) how to end baksheesh capitalism without impacting the political
class that uses the economy as a tool to perpetuate itself. For its part, the
large segment of the labor force that works for the public sector as part of a
clientist system does not wish to lose its privileged position where bribery is
a component for everything from school teachers and university professors to
clerks at social security offices.

Realizing that bankruptcy under a structured loan program from the European
Union, European Central Bank and IMF entails impoverishment for at least
one-third of the population and substantially low living standards for the
middle one-third of the population, the political class and the socioeconomic
elites have tried to convince the general public that the problem is to curb
the 'bureaucratic state' and strengthen the private sector under a neo-liberal model
that would permit foreign capital investment to absorb all the lucrative
economic sectors. Naturally, the leftist political elements argue in favor of
wealth redistribution primarily through fiscal and monetary policy.
Environmentalists argue in favor of solar and other forms of renewable energy
to replace fossil fuels. Ultra-nationalists, now popular among the young, argue
in favor of closing the borders to foreigners and creating a more 'pure'
society fit for the true 'Hellenic' descendants of Plato and Pericles, as
though there are any.

Not one word about self-reflection without the myths that Montesquieu discussed
in Persian Letters, nor a word about the need for a grassroots
sociopolitical and cultural revolution that would give life to a new society
looking toward a promising future with social justice at its core. Nor is there
any self-reflection and self-criticism about the fact that the vast majority
believe that the public sector is there to cater to the individual, namely,
that society as a whole owes to the individual and it exists to buttress the
individual who in turn has no responsibility to society in any respect from
paying taxes to making sure that garbage is properly disposed and not scattered
just anywhere. Given that we live in the age of self-indulgence, atomistic
modes, consumerism and hedonism, in a culture of 'I am OK you are OK', thus
there is no need for self-reflection or self-improvement, one can expect that
the entire society from top politicians and businesspeople to the intelligentsia
would continue to stroke themselves on the back as essentially the 'other
chosen people' chased by a global structure that is the enemy.

This is not to suggest that global capitalism is not responsible for systemic
fluctuations, including austerity policies, in smaller countries with public
debt problems. On the contrary, capitalism as a world system prevails over
nation-states. The issue remains how to manage the national political economy
within the larger world-system, and in that respect we have many models from
the social-democratic Norwegian to the nationalist Argentine, from the
corporate welfare US system to the quasi-statist Chinese system. The political
economy and national institutions a society builds are a reflection of that
society's values, aspirations and vision of the future as well as a reflection
of the past. In the case of Greece amid a tumultuous period where bankruptcy is
a reality, the elites remain steeped in myths of 'traditionalism' dragging with
them most of the population, looking backwards instead of forward, because it
serves their immediate interests and retains their privileges.

"A
gripping, passion-filled, and suspenseful tale of love, betrayal,
political and religious intrigue, this novel entices the reader’s
senses and intellect beyond conventions. Slaves to Gods and Demons
takes the reader through a roller coaster enthralling journey of
personal trials and triumphs of a family emerging vanquished and
destitute after World War II.

Narrated by a young boy, Morfeos, modeled after the Greco-Roman pagan
deity of sleep and dreams, the book reveals the soul of a people trying
to ascertain and assert their identity while rebuilding their lives and
recapturing the glory of a lost civilization.

Seeking liberation from restraints of time, social conventions, and
binding traditions, the deity of dreams provides the conformist and the
free-spirited characters in the novel with venues for redemption that
are mere paths toward illusions. Exploring the complexities of human
relationships shaped by priest and politician alike, the novel rests on
the central theme that life is invariably a series of illusions, some
of which are euphoric, most horrifying, all an integral part of daily
existence.

Striving for purpose amid life’s absurdities after the destruction of
western civilization in two global wars, the characters in Slaves to
Gods and Demons struggle between holding on to the glory and grandeur of
a pagan legacy and the Christian present shaped by contemporary
secular events in Western Civilization."